Sunday, August 31, 2003

:: On and on

I was reflecting this morning on giving my life to Christ. He asked for everything. And there have been so many times that I have prayed "God you can have it all". Finding the kingdom of God is like finding the most valuable treasure you can think of and doing whatever it takes to get it.

And then I was thinking how God is so faithful to help my prayer along. He will expose areas that I still hold on to. He continues to draw me toward himself. He continues to be a true and faithful friend with my best in mind.

I ask myself why? why did I choose this path? the path of being a Christ follower? and I realize the answer is simple. He loved me like no one else ever had. There's no one on the planet that I could have relationship with like I have with Christ.

That makes me trust Him in whatever state of life I find myself in. It's that love that compels me to move forward and continue listening to His voice and His direction in my life. I'm so glad He continues maturing me. He takes me on and on.

Friday, August 29, 2003

:: Context: sometimes forgotten

I was reading some quotes by Patrick Henry of "give me liberty or give me death" fame. History records the whole quote there was
"An appeal to arms and the God of hosts is all that is left us. But we shall not fight our battle alone. There is a just God that presides over the destinies of nations. The battle sir, is not to the strong alone. Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death."

A year later Henry said
"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionist, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For that reason alone, people of other faiths have been afforded freedom of worship here"


Ole Pat might have been an emerging church guy if he lived today. It's religion that pulls people down. Religion can only bring rules and regulations, but doesn't give humanity the power to overcome their propensity towards selfishness. Only in the gospel of Jesus Christ do you find the empowerment in humanity to overcome and go on to spiritual fullness.

Wednesday, August 27, 2003

:: Cry from the heart

I was perusing some web logs today and came across a notation from a young guy named Mike Lea who committed suicide this week. This is an excerpt from one of his recent blogs:
07/18/03-09:21:54 PM Friday — touching the rocks and flying

i will never be a writer, an artist, a musician, a programmer; i will never be an athlete, a monk, a dancer, a mechanic; i will never learn how to talk to people, meet strangers, make friends; i will never have a happy childhood, another chance to make the connections that i missed, another chance with friends i have lost. i will never be, i will never learn, i will never have.

I remember feelings that were similar at times in my life. Here is another post from Mikes blog:
08/05/03-07:46:15 PM PM Friday — touching the rocks and flying

counting down final solutions
holes and memories. i have a hole in one of my teeth. when i move my jaw in a certain way, or explore the hole with my tongue, i get shooting pains through my head. i have a hole in my life, sometimes I think my life is nothing but holes. Whenever I think about them, it sends shooting pains through my life, and I want to die. I can go to a dentist and he'll pull the tooth with the hole in it. The holes in my life are what my life is made of, they are my memories, and the only way to excise them is with a bullet. It seems like other people heal with time, forgive with time, change with time, forget with time. I don't. I seem to be stuck here with my holes, memories and holes.


It is tragic to see life end so soon. I am reminded there's a God shaped hole in all of us that only He can fill.

:: Connecting with the world

This postmodern world is a fascinating place. In my head I realize the internet not only has the capacity but is changing our world at a dramatic rate. Recently with blogging though, I am put into that web of interconnectivity and beginning to ride the wave myself.

I was reading a blog recently and the blog owner had been mentioned on Jordon Coopers site. I don't know about other people, but I attribute Coops site as the grandfather of web logs and postmodern dialogue on the web. I have been using the site for years as a resource to all things postmodern. I guess the owner of this blog thought of Jordon in the same way because he was really pumped to have been mentioned there.

I received a brief feedback from Darren Rowse whose web log is the living room. Darren is a church planter somewhere north of Melborne. he is probably an ordinary church planter guy like myself, but just having other emerging church people interact with my blog got my adrenaline pumping.

What a great time to live in when dialogue is becoming worldwide (glocal) and not just local. Hopefully all of us will be broadened in our understandings.

:: Fuel for Thought

Monday night we had our Fuel meeting. This is the core of our launch team for resonance. We took a look at a little of John Wimbers testimony. He does a great job of portraying what it is like for someone who doesn't know about churchy stuff and churchy jargon, coming in to a service for the first time.

Our discussion focused on how do we stay true to seeking the kingdom of God, but not get into cultural trappings of what "church" looks like. We want to clearly articulate the gospel of the kingdom but reach people that traditional churches don't. We understand that a central part of this is that our message and our telling His story is not in persuasive words but in a demonstration of the power of God and the spirit of God. We also know that power encounters many times come in acts of service to others.

Chris is still driving over from the other side of Ft. Worth. He is trying to sell his home. We can't wait to see what kind of faith story he and Kristi have of getting here.

We also begin our first alpha class this week. We are looking forward to meeting some new folks who will be coming to alpha.

God continues to tell us not to get ahead of ourselves and especially of Him, to just take it a step of obedience at a time.

Tuesday, August 26, 2003

:: Hear ye, hear ye!

How we take care of what is given us is directly related to more being given to us. I have heard this kind of thinking for many matters of life. For example if you take care of the money given you, then you can be responsible for more. Today I heard someone speak about being responsible for what we hear. If we listen to the voice of God in our lives rather than the other voices that come to us, then God will speak to us even more.

I had never thought of hearing like that.

I heard Peter Lord give an example of a man who could distinguish over 60 varieties of crickets. He had trained to listen to the distinctive sounds. I think maybe we can learn how to hear God more clearly with some practice.

*Lord may we listen, and then let that voice guide us.*

Saturday, August 23, 2003

:: Know that you don't know

I've begun reading back over unlearning church by Mike Slaughter. His intro focuses on the fact that in modernity the system worked with experts who said "take it from me". As society is in this postmodern transition we recognize the truth that we see through a glass dimly. We know in part only. It's an arrogant thing to say to the creator of the universe or to our fellow man that we are an expert.

This generation sees the state of the union after those who were "experts" couldn't fix it. The experts didn't keep mom and dad from divorce. They didn't keep countries from being at war. They didn't fix the brokeness of our world. The experts was the ultimate con. It was a convention of men that didn't prove out. There is a hunger now for more than we can understand.

Even for us as followers of Christ, we think when we get a decade under out belt we have really learned a lot. I guess compared to where we were we have gained some understanding of God. But in comparison to all of who God is and all there is to know of Him, we have only scratched the surface. I think of Paul who in his earlier new testament writings said "Paul, apostle of God". You can hear the bold proclamation of his calling. Yet in latter books you see "Paul, chief of sinners". Did Pauls relationship with God get watered down along the way. My guess is as Paul moved closer to God, he realized what little he did know and how amazingly vast God was.

Mike S. says this in his intro : The people to fear are those who don't know enough to know that they don't know.

**God help us to keep a healthy respect of your vastness.**

:: New Blog

I am putting together a web log that lists links to church planting, emerging church web logs, and a few misc. places. It is called faith stories.

Wednesday, August 20, 2003

:: Take the best and go

I've been in "the church" most all of my 42 years, except for about a year and a half of checking out the world and living totally for me (worst year and a half of my life and another blog). I have been in some of the most real communities during some of their best years and I have been in some really bad church settings as well.

One thing I've seen is how easy it is for christians to look to the past. The shout seems to be "Remember When". And noone embraces change because it would be different than "Remember When". I am convinced that God is the God of today. If we ever start looking back we begin to get crusty. Religion is what we see when we look back. We are putting our faith in the past, when God is with us today. I like something I heard Mike Bickle say and think it lines up well with the nature and character of Jesus. He said if you ever stop moving forward with Christ, you will begin moving backward.

My own shout is one I learned from another mentor, John Wimber, "Take the best and Go". In other words leave behind anything that doesn't bear the freshness of Him. Leave methods behind unless they are for today. Leave styles behind unless they speak for Him today. Take the principles we've learned and apply them to today.

**This is my prayer for our new community as we press into Gods kingdom words and works for us, "Lord help us to take the best and go forward, help us to leave old clothes behind."**

:: Callie makes me smile

We were coming home from school this week and in conversation. My 9 year old says I'm never getting married. We start talking about this for a minute. She goes into deep thought and says "Dad, I going to ask God who to marry, and even if he has crossed eyes, a pig nose, and a crooked mouth, if God tells me I'll marry him." That's a good prayer. "No matter what, let your will be done."

:: Fuel 3

We had our third Fuel meeting Monday night. Our group had 6 adults and 3 kids. We have a team forming who all have that divine nudge from God to pursue this journey of forming a community of Christ followers. We talked about what God was doing in our lives at this point. We talked about keeping our mind on obedience each day and not looking too far to the future and not getting stuck in the past. There is a real sense of this being a God thing. We all are acquiring testimony of Gods faithfulness in our transitions and in our desire to further His kingdom. Mark is with us for the first time at Fuel and Christi is their for the first time.

Stories of His faithfulness after praying for Gods will

Elizabeth at work to head boss.
hb: Are you ready to go to work here?
El: If its Gods will
hb: Do you really think God gets involved at this level?
El: Yea, God is involved at every level. I have tons of stories of Him doing that.
hb: Tell me one.
El: ok, let me tell you the story of how God provided for my prom shoes when in high school.
hb: Maybe God does get involved at this level. ... shares some of his life story and talks about a "higher power"
hb: I think maybe God does get involved at other levels. boss leaves

Monday, August 18, 2003

:: Learning to listen

This is part of an article called 10 reasons why your church sucks found on the ooze. Check out the whole article. Listening I think is one of the top disciples of the emerging church.


“First” he said, “Your church is totally irrelevant to the community. You all talk a good game, but you do not see the dynamic of the community changing around you. Second, your church is filled with poor leaders and over bearing bullies who believe the best way to get anything done is to frighten people. All you have are people who will tell you what to do, and not lead us in doing it. Third, your church has no vision. You guys are just dead in the water. Fourth, your church is old. Your church is filled with old people who have no reason to move ahead. They have more life behind them then they do ahead of them. Fifth, your church is inbred. The people my age in your church are all related to the older people so change is impossible. People who are part of the outside don’t feel welcomed into the inside and voice an opinion; it’s filled with mama’s boys. Sixth, your church is more concerned about image them reality. You all seem to be more concerned with the condition with building then with building the condition of your people. The carpet looks great, because no food is allowed near it. The stain glass is wonderful; because you spend more money on cleaning and maintaining it then you do on mission work. Seventh, your church sees no need for change. You are all happy in your fortress and are not interested in opening your doors to the outside. Evangelism is a dead concept, and community is only those inside the building. Eighth, your church doesn't’t share a relevant message for a relevant time. You’re so concerned with doctrine, you are not allowing me to explore the faith and question the unquestionable. Ninth, your church doesn't care about me as a person, only as a checkbook. Over the time I was with the church I heard more sermons on how much I should be giving and not one on how much you were willing to give up. The only time I had anyone from your church visit me was when it was pledge time and you came around and you needed me to increase my giving. It got to the point were I felt no matter what I gave it would never be enough. Tenth, your church is all politics and infighting. Things only get done if you can muster enough political support form others to get your point to be heard, press your issues and lobby for approval. You have to wheel and deal to get anything done.


God keep us from inauthenticity, and allow our authenticity to make a difference.

Sunday, August 17, 2003

:: Kingdom Ethos

A simple definition of the kingdom of God is the rule and reign of God. Christ came and ushered in the rule and reign of God on the earth in a whole new dimension. No longer was the presence of God contained in the holy place in the temple. Jesus came as a sacrifice for our errors. After the resurrection of Jesus the presence of God was available to all of humanity. Now the rule and reign of God is upon the earth in us.

There is a time in the future where the rule and reign of God will be a complete work. George Eldon Ladd said we now live in the presence of the future.

Having laid this as a groundwork, we can truly say that our purpose as Christ followers on the earth is to extend the rule and reign of God. This is the greater reality. We are no longer citizens of this present age but are citizens of Gods kingdom. Our lives are to reflect this reality. Our actions, our thoughts are to be vessels of the kingdom of God. We are now ambassadors of our fathers kingdom. We carry His full authority as ambassadors of His kingdom.

So our thoughts, our worldview, our perspective, our ethos is to be one of the kingdom of God, not of the kingdom of this world. I was thinking today how we have data thrown at us that does not work with the kingdom. Our feelings, our experience, this worlds ideas give us an ethos that goes against the grain of the kingdom. When someone is rude to me on the freeway. There are instincts that kick in and my desire is to be rude back. Oh you cut me off, I can do that also. But my kingdom ethos is different. In this paradigm, I may be directed to pray for that person or rejoice in Gods goodness at that moment.

I pray I can learn to embrace a kingdom ethos in a more holistic way in my life.

Saturday, August 16, 2003

:: Test

I want to see how this w.blogger software works. Is bloggin strictly postmodern or just an emerging technology? Whatever it is, I like it. foursquare graphic

:: Testimonies and the journey

Our journey planting a community of Christ followers in Carrollton is on its way. It hasn't come together as fast as I was thinking, but it is coming together none the less. Part of the process of this journey is letting go of my expectations and asking "What is the father saying?" and "What is the father doing?".

At our first meeting there were three adults and two kids and at our second meeting last week there were four adults and two kids. I mention this for journaling reasons. We are keyed in to the idea of having a community of Christ followers shouldn't be defined by the times we meet together. Meeting together for celebration is a part of our journey but only a part. If we are going to seek first the kingdom of God, we are going to pursue that on a daily basis.

We are having dinners and lunches together and talking of the people we are encountering in our daily lives that need to embrace the kingdom of God through following Christ. In all we are doing we have had a strong sense of the presence of God and recognize that we are just getting on board with His journey.

Testimonies:
Michael Bates has been in the area for about three months. Already he has gone from being a server at a local restaurant to training for a managers position. We see the Lords favor on his step of faith to move out here.

Elizabeth had planned on getting a temp job when she came out. She called about 12 temp agencies. Only one would even take an application because of the many people out of a job right now. Out of that one agency, she was given a temp job the second week. And her first week of work at this job, the firm asked her to apply for a full-time position there. We see Gods favor on her in this.

Mark Pierce just came out this week to make the transition from Lubbock. Marks car is not in the prime of its life and even a trip to Dallas was an occurrence to pray about. The timing on his coming was just right as the weather was overcast and his relic of a car did just fine. As he puts out job applications we are praying for a testimony to come from that the next couple of weeks.

A picture:
We see this community not as a puzzle that we are looking at the lid and trying to fit all the pieces together to make a perfect puzzle, but more like a journey into a forest where we don't know exactly what we will encounter next but are excited about the adventure.

Tuesday, August 12, 2003

:: Emerging Church: mapping a course

There seems to be a ground roots movement across the world today called the emerging church. As I look at various emerging churches as they spring up there is incredible variety in what they are looking like.

There are some that have a worship style that sings Passion stuff, there are the Hillsong churches, those that use mostly Vineyard worship, some that are totally alternative worship. You have groups that are house churches, others that are church plants meeting in shopping centers, strip malls, schools, or local bars. The types of meetings vary. Some look like traditional churches in format, others wouldn't be caught dead meeting on a Sunday. Polity varies, how they started varies. This is a very eclectic group of people.

I see one thing that is common among the mixture. People today are hungry for spiritual things and are not finding what they are looking for in the churches of today.

With all the variety in the emerging church how do we resonance find our way as we "emerge" onto the scene. Here are some things we could do:

1. We could come up with an elaborate marketing plan to sweep the city and let them
know that Resonance is one cool church and they should come check us out.

2. We could look at the emerging churches we think are doing community in a way that
appeals to us and pattern ourselves after them.

3. We could decide to do everything different from anything we've every seen or
experienced because we want to be different.

Here is what we are hearing from God and believe He is saying to us as we get ready to emerge as a community of Christ followers.

As we have begun to dialogue (an essential part of the community) about what do we do as resonance, we have come to this conclusion. Lets look at Jesus and see what He did. Lets ask the questions of how did he emerge in ministry. How did he live his life? What was He about as He emerged into the world? So our pattern will be Jesus. I know that can sound hyper spiritual. It can sound like buzz lightyear in Toy Story (with big booming voice) "We will follow Jesus pattern." We really don't think this is anything profound and realize probably most everyone would agree with us that Jesus pattern is the direction they are going.

So a couple of things have come up as we have just begun this dialogue within our small community.

. Lets ask like Jesus did "What is the Father saying?" and then lets get in on what the
Father is saying and doing.

. Jesus came preaching the kingdom of God and fulfilling what he taught through His
works. So we know we want the words and works of the kingdom of God to be part of
our journey.

. And recognizing this is a journey. It is not a bunch a events. It is a journey of group of
people who are being the church by a lifestyle of words and works that extend the
kingdom.

Well these are some of the initial thoughts. We met for the second time last night with four adults and two kids. As one friend who is a church planter recently reminded me "Don't forget to enjoy the journey". It is cool serving God, not always easy, but really cool.

Saturday, August 09, 2003

:: A semi-definitive list of Christian blogs

Take a look a blogs4God to see lists of some Christian blogs.
Journals

:: When it rains it pours

Wow, we just had one of those weeks where it seemed everything hit at once. I came down with an intense cold for about five days. The van wouldn't start. The brakes on the car wouldn't start. Ethan didn't have all his shots to start school. We couldn't find Callies birth certificate. Our house that was supposed to close, didn't and we had further negotiations on it. We weren't sure about Callies new fourth grade teacher and I had to talk to the principal about the possibility of her switching classes. And somewhere in the midst of all this, I know I am supposed to be about the kingdom. I know I'm supposed to be about the business of planting a church.

Somebody tilted the world or at least our world this week.

On another note I was reminded this week that as followers of Christ we are no longer about ourselves. It is a challenging thing to not be about ourselves. It is a challenge to serve others when I have needs that need to be tended to. It is a challenge to focus on obedience to God when everything around you seems to be calling out "give me your attention".



I find that following Christ is not walking in a straight linear line that is painted with yellow stripes down the middle to give you the correct parameters. It is more like entering a mountain trail that has so much growth you don't know what will come next. Even at times you are not sure which way the path goes. It seems to fade out in the foliage.

This latter path is one that I can navigate only as I continue a divine communication with the creator of the path.

Wednesday, August 06, 2003

:: What is a weblog?

Check out this report on what a web log is at the Harvard law school blog site. It goes into depth on the heart of a weblog or blog. What is a weblog?

:: deconstructing "knocking on our heart"?

As the emerging church we have to look at how we are communicating the gospel of the kingdom of God. The modern church has it's own venacular. I believe God is all about giving fresh avenues of communication that reach each generation specifically.

I thought of this as I talked this morning with my eight and nine year old. I asked them to read Proverbs 15 and then tell me what jumped out at them. After about ten minutes of dialogue somehow we got on the topic of asking Jesus to come into our heart. Callie (my nine year old) said she remembered hearing that Jesus knocks on the door of our heart the first time. She said she thought their was this little Jesus who would knock on a little door in her heart and then open it and step in. Ethan (the eight year old) told me how when he could feel his heart beating he thought that was Jesus knocking to get in. This brought on a great dialogue about Jesus living in us and what that is all about.

I was reminded that we really need to know who we are communicating with and speak their language. I love talking with my kids about the Lord, they bring up topics I would never think of on my own.

As we are in the beginning week of launching a community of Christ followers, I've been telling our small core to think fresh. We want to communicate what God is doing in us and not try duplicating others.

Tuesday, August 05, 2003

:: Risk

I love the cover of the new Ten Shekel Shirt CD called Risk. It speaks to the situation we are in at resonance. We are planting a church by stepping out. We feel like this kid jumping from the swing. We are going for it, and it feels unsure in how we'll land, but we're still going for it.

.

Go here to listen to some cuts from the CD: ten shekel shirt

Saturday, August 02, 2003

:: The world of blog

Blogging has become one of my favorite hobbies. It might not seem so looking at the site, but I have been soaking up the blog world. It is a new habitat I've never been in and I like it. There are some great blog communities out there. I am even trying to learn a little code, although I haven't found any good publications on the matter yet, just picking up bits and pieces from some of the more technical site.

This seems to me a budding technology that is evolving every day. That's something else I like about blogging, it is a place where innovation is happening by the day.

Although I'm a tiny piece of the blogging world, I look forward to being a part of the community and the exploration of its universe.